Biography

Eduardo Sanchez serves as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for Prevention and Chief of the Center for Health Metrics and Evaluation for the American Heart Association (AHA). Prior to joining AHA, he served as Vice President and CMO for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) where he focused on worker and worksite wellness, clinical prevention, and chronic disease management, particularly diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Sanchez led the Institute for Health Policy at the University of Texas (UT) School of Public Health as Director from 2006 to 2008. From 2001 to 2006, he served as Texas Commissioner of Health, Texas’ state health officer. He led the Texas Department of State Health Services from 2004 to 2006 and the Texas Department of Health from 2001 to 2004. And he served as the local public health officer in Austin-Travis County from 1994 to 1998. Dr. Sanchez currently serves as Chair of the Texas Public Health Coalition (TPHC) and the National Commission on Prevention Priorities (NCPP). He co-chairs the Dallas Health and Wellness Alliance for Children. From 2008 to 2012, he served as chair of the Advisory Committee to the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He serves on the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Roundtable on Obesity Solutions and on the Board of Directors of Trust for America’s Health, AcademyHealth, and the CATCH Global Foundation. He is a member of the National Quality Forum (NQF) Disparities Standing Committee on and the IOM Committee on Evaluating Approaches to Assessing Prevalence and Trends in Obesity. He serves on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow Advisory Board. He is the recipient of the 2011 Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Alumni Award and the 2011Texas Public Health Association (TPHA) James E. Peavy Memorial Award. In 2005, he was awarded the Texas School Health Association (TSHA) John P. McGovern Award and the 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) Public Health Award. In 2004, he received the American Heart Association Louis B. Russell Memorial Award, for outstanding service in addressing healthcare disparities, by the American Heart Association. Dr. Sanchez received an M.D. from the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical School in Dallas in 1988, an M.P.H. from the UT Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health in 1993. Prior to attending medical school, he attained an M.S. in biomedical engineering from Duke University. He holds a B.S. in biomedical engineering and a B.A. in chemistry from Boston University. Dr. Sanchez is board certified in family medicine.